Homographs in the Same
Sentence

Homographs (HOM-uh-graf,
HOA-muh-) are words that are spelled the same but differ in meaning, derivation,
or perhaps pronunciation. Purists favor all three.

The better ones in the following
list do not rely on punctuation (apostrophe's, etc.). I'm specifically looking
for sentences in which the homographs appear next to each other. Contributions
are welcome. When I know the source, s/he appears in parentheses.

Single
letter Homographs

A.

(3 in 1; 7 in a row)
My personal assistant typed "andandand" instead of "and and and". I told her,
"There should be a space between, and and and, and and and and". (Kaustubh
Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

The math teacher, who
found aesthetic elements in geometric figures, felt that most triangles have
a cute acute angle. (Dick Brink)

B.

Did you ever see a bow
bow to an arrow? (Dick Brink)

If fish can hear, would,
to a bass, bass be deep? (SK)

(8 in a row) Buffalo
buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo, Buffalo buffalo buffalo. [Note: It is a sentence
with the structure "People intimidate people, people intimidate." with the
following substitutions: People -> American bison from a NY City or "Buffalo
buffalo" Intimidate -> buffalo (By way of Lance Hahn, from an unremembered
source)].

Being a human being does
not necessarily mean you are intelligent.(Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay),
India)

A bass was painted on
the head of the bass drum. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI
(Bangalore))

C.

(Punctuation (:) would
make this 3 in a row) When the grammarian read this sentence he felt a twinge
in his colon: Colon use should be restricted to scholarly works. (SK)

(almost a double) The
stained-glass artisan's lead came came by UPS. She has to be careful; lead
leads to illness if she isn't. (Pauline Jones)

"The can can go out."
said the recycler.

If the animal comes close,
close the door (Joan Krenzin)

(almost a triple homographs
but different sentences.) Separate the titles from the rest of the sentence
with a colon: "Colon cancer in rats: Ratting on rats who smoke. Health goes
up in smoke." (Joan Krenzin)

Americans eat what they
can, and they can what they can't. (From a Reader's Digest, contributed
by Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

They were too close to
the door to close it. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore))

(3 meanings) This study
was limited to the class 10 students from the upper-class of the society,
who attain first class in exams and travel by first class only.(Kaustubh Shejwalkar,
Mumbai (Bombay), India)

D.

The criminal deserts
deserts when he escapes from prison. (Joan Krenzin)

She took up SCUBA because
she had heard of divers divers pleasures. (Lee Gray, Mount Union College)

The soldier decided to
desert his dessert in the desert. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde,
CBSI (Bangalore))

The buck does funny things
when the does are present. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI
(Bangalore))

E.

Can an exile exile another
person?

Exit through the door
having an exit sign.(Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

F.

To keep the flies out
of their faces the servant fans fans.

"Did the foul foul up
your leg," asked the coach?

At the competition the
ceiling fan fans fans.(SK)

(fly is the homograph.
Also homophones of flea/flee and flue/flew) A fly and a flea in a flue, were
imprisoned, so what could they do? Said the flea, "Let us fly."
Said the fly, "Let us flee." So they flew through a flaw in the
flue. (from a book of limericks, contributed by Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai
(Bombay), India)

Cook fast; yesterday
the whole day I had a fast.(Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

G.

The glass glass shattered
but the plastic was okay.

We can take up this project
only when the committee will grant the grant.(Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai
(Bombay), India)

H.

If the head navigator
has a head, he should head this way. (Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay),
India)

(3 meanings) variation:
If the head navigator needs the head, he should head this way.

He could lead if he would
get the lead out. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore))

(3 meanings, 4 occurrences)I
had planned to leave Bangalore, but leave was not sanctioned and hence left
the leave plan alone but the boss left without leave and was sanctioned! (Yamini
W. Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore))

(2 meanings, 8 occurrences
across sentences). You've no need to light a nightlight On a light night like
tonight, For a nightlight's lights a slight light, And tonight's a night that's
light. When a night's light, like tonight's light, It's really not quite right
To light nightlights with their slight lights, on a light night like tonight.
(From a friend of Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

M.

He apologized with a
flower. In spite of the mum, mum was the word.

(3 in a row. 3 meanings)
A truck which carries everything you own is a moving van, and it's easy
to visualize a moving moving van. Can you imagine, though, being moved to
tears about moving your possessions and thus seeing it as a moving moving
moving van? (Paul Stokes)

Working on previously
unpublished material, a frustrated conductor named Mark Thyme composed a
quick remedy for his myopic percussionist: Taking his finger and drawing
an "x" on the tympanist's drum, the conductor, now quite amused with himself,
remarked quite audibly, "Mark marks mark the spot!" (Lanita Kirby)
(For a MM variation see next section.)

How mean of you if you
really mean it. (Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

N.

Having been given a spinal
anesthetic, our statistician-colleague was indeed a number number-cruncher.
(Tom Brink)

The farm was used to
produce produce.(Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore))

Peel the banana and throw
its peel in the trash. (Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

Park in the park. (Kaustubh
Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

(3 meanings) Since there
is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present
but the recipient was not present.(Unknown,
contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore) and added to by
Hubert Walczak)

(4 meanings) I can't
leave my post to show you the post office; leave the letter here, I shall
post it during the post lunch session. (Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay),
India)

The mother insisted that
work on her son's resume resume. (Joan Krenzin, WKU)

I was asked to read what
I had read! (Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore))

The dump was so full
that it had to refuse more refuse. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde,
CBSI (Bangalore))

There was a row among
the oarsmen about how to row. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI
(Bangalore))

(3 meanings) One person
is having a rest, another one is in the rest room, and the rest of them are
in the hall. (Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

S.

I'm allergic to scotch
so for my sake, sake must be served.

She'd shed her fur.

Your nose smells smells.

He dropped an ash from
his pipe, and suddenly found he had a smoking smoking jacket! (Pauline Jones,
WKU)

A seamstress and a sewer
fell down into a sewer line. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI
(Bangalore))

I had to subject the
subject to a series of tests. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI
(Bangalore))

To help with planting,
the farmer taught his sow to sow. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde,
CBSI (Bangalore))

(4 meanings) I had planned
to leave Bangalore, but leave was not sanctioned and hence left the leave
plan alone but the boss left without leave and was sanctioned! (Yamini W.
Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore)

(4 meanings) I state
that the current state of the things should be abolished in the state of California,
and all its hardware should be upgraded with the state-of-the-art technology.
(Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

T.

Seeing a woman in tears
tears me up. (Tom Brink)

(Almost a 2 in 1) At
the men's retreat, Tom tom-tomed on his drum.

I saw the tower tower
over other cars. (Joan Krenzin, WKU)

After the trial, trial
and error methods seemed reasonable.

Upon seeing the tear
in the painting I shed a tear. (Unknown, contributed by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI
(Bangalore))

(3 meanings) I waited
from two to two to two to two too, (that is, from 1:58 to 13:58). (Kaustubh
Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

In response to my request
for a U to complete the alphabet: "I would like to offer you some sort
of chemical process to complete your homograph homepage, but realize that
the hydrogen I have to offer is unionized, that is to say, only in the form
of a gas, and that, failing unionized laborers to transport it I may fall
short of the mark." (Tom Brink)

(3) Under no circumstance,
force any one to inhale gas under pressure, under water.(Kaustubh Shejwalkar,
Mumbai (Bombay), India)

I saw a zebra at the
zebra crossing.(Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

Double
Letter Homographs or More!

DOS.

When you switch duty
or go off the site, it is your duty to press the main switch and turn the
hydraulic press off. (Kaustubh Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

MM.

(an abab pattern and
a variation on a single M contribution.)Working
on previously unpublished material, a frustrated conductor named Mark Thyme
composed a quick remedy for his myopic percussionist. He took a marker and
drew an "x" on the tympanist's drum. The conductor was now quite amused with
himself. Remarked Mark, "Mark's mark marks the spot!"

MS.

The second volume of
the manual explains the manual way to reduce volume in a second. (Kaustubh
Shejwalkar, Mumbai (Bombay), India)

SW.

(3 meanings) Whether
we weather weather on the local scene remains to be seen. (Joan Krenzin, WKU).

Homophones,
etc. (but I liked them anyway)

Alas, a lass caused him
to lose his virginity. (Joan Krenzin)

Have you heard about
the flea repellent program similar to the liquid stuff we put on the back
of cats' necks? It really works! You see in the fleece fleas by the hundreds
evacuating. A myriad fleas, not just the lone flea, flee fleece at first application.
(Jeannine Maxwell Randes)

Great checks without
great cheques! (seen in an advertisement by Yamini W. Nafde, CBSI (Bangalore))

Did you hear of the poultry
scientist? In honor of his longstanding and intimate relationship with those
for whom he worked, he was invited to a fowl ball. When he declined, you should
have heard those fowl bawl.

He saw a saw. Esau saw
a seesaw.

Our heroine's heroin
was coursing through her veins. (Tracy Blevins, U. Texas) and variation Of
course, here on in, our heroine hoped heroin would course through her coarse
veins, as she vainly stabbed here on in to herself, dragging her hair on in
and leaving a vane, her vanity vanquished.(John Ruskin, building on Tracy's).